UCLA Smoke-Free Campus

UCLA will become the first university of california campus to go tobacco-free... but it's not happening right away.
NBC's Stephanie Elam explains.

Linda Sarna / UCLA Tobacco Free Steering Committee: "It's time that we did something, and we felt at UCLA we could do it now."

no if... ands... or butts.

u-c-l-a is going tobacco free on april 22nd.

Linda Sarna / UCLA Tobacco Free Steering Committee: "We felt that Earth Day would be a perfect day, because we're not only concerned about preventing the number one cause of preventable death: tobacco use; but also the devastating effect on the environment."

UCLA will be the first u-c campus to go smoke free after the president of the u-c system requested that all ten u-c campuses adopt the policy by 2014.

Lizzie Aaron / Student: "My academics would probably go a bit downhill if I tried to stop smoking in the middle of the school year, April 22nd, right around spring finals."

but Sarna says the idea is to help smokers quit.

Linda Sarna / UCLA Tobacco Free Steering Committee: "We know the combination of both using some medication and social support is the gold standard. // It's not going to be about a police presence, it's going to be about providing education and support."

800 colleges and universities nationwide have implemented similar bans.